


In This Darkness, Are You Alright?

by tigereyes45



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Can sort of be seen as a, Gen, Missing Scene, Piece
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-31 08:17:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21127586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigereyes45/pseuds/tigereyes45
Summary: Magic. The one thing about the library and their jobs that make Eve and Jacob uncomfortable. In the quiet of night in the annex decisions and magic keep the two up.





	In This Darkness, Are You Alright?

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by anon on tumblr: Do you think you might want to write an Eve/Jacob platonic comfort scene? Like when Eve was dealing with Flynn running away or when Jacob was freaking out about the monkey king? Or any emotional moment, really. I love the emotion in the scenes with these two.

At the barely lit table in the middle of the annex was an exhausted cowboy. The annex was quiet as Jacob pours through some of the older books. He was having trouble sleeping as the tattoo on his arm thrums. He has been trying to ignore the magic ever since he received it. It’s almost impossible to get his mind off the magic coursing through his veins.

“Strange to see you still up. Usually, it’s Jenkins, or Cassandra.”

“You’re telling me you’ve never caught Flynn down here asleep in a book?”

“It may have happened once or twice.”

Finally, he looks up to see Baird’s barely lit face. Her eyes were red and puffy, almost like she had been crying. If she had been she still stood straight as she strides across the room. There was purpose behind her every step. She looked like a warrior preparing herself for war. Was that why she had been crying?

“Alright, why are you looking at me like that? Spill it, cowboy.”

Jacob hides his face in the book on the desk again. “Your eyes, they’re puffy. Looks like you’ve been crying.”

“Oh.” It was a very simple reaction from Baird. He had sort of expected more. Something along the lines of, ‘Me? Crying? You’re seeing things Jacob,’ the lack of denial only reaffirms his guess. She was scared about what was coming for them next.

“What are you reading?” It was a topic change, but not like he minded. He lifts up the cover to let her read it for herself.

“Ways to ward yourself against magic. Interesting. Would this have something to do with the new tattoo?” She gestures to his arm as if she needed too. They both knew it was. Ever since the marks had burned themselves into his skin, he detested the magic ink.

“Does the crying have anything to do with Apep?”

“Jacob, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Like what? I thought we were just asking the obvious.”

Baird rests her hands on the end of the table. He could feel her gaze burning two holes into his skull. He drops the cover back onto the table. The weight of it shakes the items around him. His hand catches a falling beer can as Baird holds back a laugh awfully. She holds it back so poorly she may have well just laughed loudly and proudly. It would have hurt less.

The can bounces off the ground giving him a second chance. This time he actually manages to catch it. One shake and it was clear the can was basically empty anyways. Jacob looks around still avoiding Baird’s gaze. When he fails to find a trashcan he slams the can back onto the table.

He flinches as Baird’s hands pick it up. Watching her from the corner of his eyes, Jacob watches Baird barely throw the can. A loud swish and clang her victory’s announced. He mutters under his breath about how he could have done it. There just wasn’t one in sight. Baird crosses the table and pulls out a chair beside him.

“Alright let’s talk.”

“Nothing to talk about. My sifu decided to award me by giving me a magical tattoo I can’t get to stop burning my body.”

“It’s burning you?” The concern in her voice was palpable. She immediately rubs her fingers over his arm, as if just by hovering over she might be able to feel the heat.

“It’s not a literal burn, but it’s still intense. It feels like the magic is coursing through my body. I know this was a lesson to teach me to accept magic because it is just as important as the other side of our job, but this stuff on my arm….I just want it off Eve.”

She hangs onto his arm as one of hers wraps around his shoulder. With an ease, only the colonel could summon she pulls his head against her. He closes his eyes as his head rests against the side of her neck. She smells like melting wax and burning wood. Had she been burning some of the old candles recently?

“I know Stone. I know. We’ll figure out a way to get it off.”

“Then what Eve? My sifu gave it to me. I can’t just get rid of it.”

“You didn’t want it.”

“Yeah well, it’s there now. I just want the magic to stop coursing through me. It feels like it’s seeping into my veins. Like there’s a fire int hem or something.”

“That’s another time you’ve referred to it as if it’s burning or fire-like. Are you sure it doesn’t hurt.”

“No it doesn’t.”

“Maybe you should rest Stone. We can talk to Jenkins in the morning about finding a way to keep the magic from spreading. Maybe that will help dull the sensation.”

“Alright.”

“Okay?”

“Okay. That sounds like a plan.”

They sit like this in silence for some blessedly quiet moments in the annex. It wasn’t rare for someone to be up in the long hours of the night, but it would have been quite the sight if one of the others had gotten up and strolled upon the scene. Jacob could only imagine that they would look like strangers to the others. In this position in this limelight, Ezekiel especially would be surprised. He could almost imagine the young librarian’s surprised face. Somehow this was comfortable. Jacob couldn’t remember the last time he just held someone, or they held him. Nothing else, but just holding, offering some kind of comfort in this stressful as fuck life.

“Good as for now, how about you go and try to get some sleep at least.” Jacob almost didn’t want to get up. A lethargic feeling had washed over him as they sat there. Getting up would be a drag.

“Yeah, I guess I should.” He was slow to get up. Even slower to stand. He stops by the base of the stairs. A cold breeze pushes its way through the base floor. As if an early winter was greeting them in this dead of night.

“Take care of yourself.”

“You first,” she was smiling, her tone was light, but there was something in it that scares Jacob. He wasn’t sure why. He couldn’t even describe it. The words that were usually so easy for him to access were gone. Lost in a mist of uneasiness. He slaps his hand over the tattoo. It just had to be the magic from it. That was what made Eve’s face in the limelight of the library look so alien. Almost as if she was someone else entirely the moment he stood up. Jacob shakes his head and squeezes his arm before heading up the stairs. The lack of a call from her only confirmed that at least all of it wasn’t in his head.


End file.
